Dirty Dancing

William Barton sat at his table in the fancy dining/dancing venue. He watched his wife, June dancing with a young man who had asked her about twenty minutes ago. June was a very attractive woman, 5'9", dark hair, slim figure. She was a very good dancer. So was the guy she was dancing with at the moment, Brad. He was younger than her thirty-nine years, taller and blond. William watched with some resignation. He used his cell phone to record the dancing - if that's what it could be called.

William and June had been married eighteen years and had two twin daughters, seniors in high school. The spouses had met at college and married after graduation. But the marriage had almost not happened.

That was because, about two months before graduation, June and Will went to a birthday party for a friend of theirs. At that party June had started dancing with that friend, Milan Burton. And she kept dancing with him. The dancing became more and more suggestive. It went on for over thirty minutes before Will left the party. He went directly to his apartment, where he thought out the mechanics of getting disengaged.

He had it about thought through when a loud knock at the door startled him. He opened the door. There stood June, his ex-fiancé, and Milan, his ex-friend.

Will slammed the door on them, and shot the dead bolt. He could be quite quick when the occasion arose.

There was more knocking, and some shouting by both June and Milan. No apologies that Will heard. Only that it was nothing - what happened. Nothing.

Finally, Will approached the door and shouted, "FUCK OFF!" Then he went to bed. Of course, he didn't sleep well, even with the earphones pumping Beethoven.

Will and June were not cohabiting at that point. She had a dorm room. But she did spend a lot of time at Will's efficiency. He had her clothing and cosmetics packed by nine the next morning. He put it all neatly into two moving boxes he had left over from a summer job. They were by the door when he was about to leave for a run. Back then he called it jogging.

June was asleep in the corridor outside his room. Milan was not to be seen.

Will stood over June, who was not yet conscious. He couldn't decide what to do. He was about to step over her when she woke up with a start.

Will said, "You have to move. I'm going jogging. You and I are done. Go home."

June stood, shakily. She said, "I apologize for embarrassing you. That was wrong."

"Well, at least it kept me from making a big mistake. Imagine the complications if it happened after we were married. Maybe at the reception."

"Will, I mean, we got carried away. Too much cheap wine."

"I'm sure we'd have wine at the reception."

"Will, nothing else was going to happen. I wasn't going to sleep with him."

"I do believe that, June. You two would have spent all night fucking - no sleeping involved. You practically started right there on the dance floor."

"No. Anyway, why didn't you stop it?"

"Why would I. It was revelatory. Showed what I could expect from the marriage. So, I'm out."

June was leaking tears. She said, "I love you. Milan just got me hot. It was his birthday. And if you would have stayed, I would have taken you back here and killed you with sex."

"We'll never know. Never. It was very risky what you did. Someone could have been badly hurt. These boxes have all your stuff. You can have Milan help you."

"Oh, no, Will. Oh, please."

Will left the door open, stepped past her and ran down the stairs. He shouted back, "Leave your key."

June was desolate. She closed Will's door, leaving her stuff. She wasn't giving up. As she walked to her dorm room, she tried to figure out what had caused her openly to embarrass Will like that. Because that's what she had been doing. He was right there, and all their friends as well. She admitted to herself that she always had a yen for Milan. It was mutual, and they were both aware of it. She hadn't planned the dirty dancing. But when she started dancing with Milan, she intentionally ramped up the sexual nature of the situation.

She didn't know what would have happened if Will had stayed. But when Milan told her that Will had gone, she ran outside after him. Milan followed. He said, "Will left twenty minutes ago. He probably went to his place. What do you....?"

She said, "I have to see him. Jesus. What were we doing?"

"Play fucking. Leading to real fucking. I always wanted that, and so do you."

"So what? He and I are engaged. And you're supposed to be his buddy."

"Yeah. Except, he got you and I didn't. Let's go to his place and try to smooth things over. Unless you want to come to mine."

"Asshole. His place. Maybe you should stay here."

"Nah. We both need to apologize."

Milan didn't stay outside Will's apartment for very long after the door slam. He tried again to convince June to come to his room. That failed and he left her there. She fell asleep, sitting up against the wall outside the door.

Will's run lasted quite a while, and when he returned to the apartment no one was in the hall. That was a relief - and also a disappointment. For one thing, he was going to have to see Milan about the matter. No doubt about that.

Will showered, and sat to try to figure out how to proceed. He called his parents' house. His mom answered. Clara Barton. (She almost refused to change her surname when she got married. But her maiden name was Bell.)

Will said, "Hi, mom. I'm calling off the wedding. June and I are done."

Clara was shocked. "Why? She's such a great girl."

"Not so great." He explained what had happened.

Clara said, "I don't understand it, Will. I know that girl loves you."

"I thought she did, mom. But now, not so much. She knew what she was doing."

"Will, let me think about this for a while, before you go off half.....before you make a hasty decision."

Will agreed. They'd talk the next morning.

Clara consulted her husband, Bartholomew. AKA Bart-Bart or BB. Bart was a psychologist, working mainly for the local courts assessing criminals. But Clara trusted him to be rational about this situation, and not to treat June like a criminal.

After she explained to him what had happened, he asked, "Was she quite drunk?"

"Will says she had wine, but that she wasn't really plastered. He says she knew what she was doing."

Bart said, "Well, she was scared to get married."

"What? They've planned it for almost a year."

"But she wants out. Her display was calculated to end the engagement. Apparently, it has worked."

"Aah. Well, it simply cannot be that straightforward. We've seen them together. They're in love."

"Her parents are divorced. I never knew so much about that. But I bet you do."

"I did speak to Joann about it. She said that she....well, she was infatuated with a man who lived near them and she cheated. Bob tossed her out and divorced her."

"And June was how old?"

"Let's see.....twelve. She stayed with Joann. But I believe she also had lots of time with her dad."

"And Joann married the guy, right?"

"Yes. Carl is the guy she cheated with. As you know, they separated recently."

"So, as I see it, June's afraid to get married. The guy that she was dancing with, it's Will's buddy. She probably has a thing for him. She's worried that if she marries Will, she'll cheat with a hot guy, like her mom did. Her attraction to this guy only served to prove the point."

Clara said, "What can we do, Bart? The two of them belong together."

"I'm not so sure about that, dear."

"I am. I am sure. Can we do something?"

"What? I guess we can speak to Will, and see if he can be talked out of precipitous action."

The next day, Clara called Will and asked if they could visit. She and Bart picked up Will for dinner out.

The three got a private booth at a good local restaurant, and Clara began the conversation.

"Will, your dad and I would like you to hold off a little, making a decision about the engagement."

"Why? She showed her true colors."

Bart said, "Well, you know her family history, right? Her mom cheated and a divorce resulted."

"So? Like mother, like daughter." Will was forceful in saying this.

"I think that's what she's worried about. Has she shown any....interest in Milan, before the other night?"

"Some. Maybe they've flirted a bit."

Clara said, "So, maybe she'd worried about her ability to be faithful. But, Will, I believe she can be faithful."

Bart added, "We think that she was doing the display from some sort of mixed-up confusion of her engagement and her parents' marriage. If you two went to counselling, you might be able to save the situation."

"Why should I take such a risk?"

Clara said, "Because you love the girl, and she loves you. And because everyone screws up at some point. If the counselling doesn't work....you gave it a shot."

Will said, "I'll consider it."

June and Will went to counselling. The big wedding plans were cancelled. There was no assurance that the marriage would ever happen.

After several months, Will relented. June enticed him back into bed, and he accepted her apology, and the explanation that she was mixing up her own situation with her mother's.

They married in a small ceremony, after graduation. Only the parents, June's sister, Will's older brother, and a cousin attended.

They used the money they'd saved for the wedding to go to the Bahamas for ten days. They had a fantastic time, and that experience helped Will with his latent misgivings about June.

Will had a job out of college with a nascent computer software start up. Low pay to start, but a piece of the company. June made up for the low pay by working for a real estate firm, at a good starting salary.

the twins arrived - Sally and Susan. June took off a year, with the promise that she could return to the same work. After the year, Will made arrangements to work a lot from home, and so took over most of the childcare.

As it happened, Will was very good at computer programming, and June was good at organizing a real estate office. The family prospered. A very large house in a D.C. suburb was the place where the couple raised their daughters. There were no other children. June decided that two were enough.

Will and June were both making good money. They each put in enough to the common bank account to pay the family expenses. What was left over was kept in separate investment accounts. That was June's idea, but Will agreed quickly.

His agreement surprised him. When June had proposed the arrangement, he had felt relief. He sat down one evening when she was out shopping with a friend and thought about the matter. And what he came up with was that, even after all this time - the girls were six - he didn't fully trust June. Further thought brought the idea that it was the Milan episode. Except for that, June had exhibited absolutely no inclination to stray, and he was as certain as he could be that she had not. But he decided that he was just as happy to keep his own money separate from hers - just in case.

June and Will drew up an agreement to that effect, with a proviso that any divorce would have no effect upon either one's own money.

Will did wonder some why June wanted that. He decided that he didn't care. But he also decided to take some measures, from time to time, to check on June's fidelity. He did trust her. Sort of. Not all the way down to the ground. So, some random probes were in order.

Will also thought through some of the discord in the marriage. He was aware that, at times, he was guilty of unprovoked.....dissatisfaction. Petty disputes. And he traced that also back to the Milan incident. Lingering anger and resentment, popping up from time to time.

Often returned in spades.

He decided to make a concerted effort to avoid that in future. And he was largely successful. The marriage smoked along, and no serious problems arose. The random checks continued, but never revealed anything suspect.

Still, as the twins entered their last year in high school, it seemed to Will that both he and June were a little down. Although Will was the more involved parent, June was also a big part of family life. Only her work hours shifted the main role to Will.

But because he had the main role, the impending 'empty nest' should have affected him more. He did feel down, but June seemed, at times, lost.

That sense of hovering depression was what caused Will to propose to June that they take a week in Los Angeles. She had to go there for a one-day meeting, and he thought they could see the city after, and have a good time. She was initially hesitant but accepted. Will arranged for Clara to come stay with the girls.

The two of them left Sunday morning, arrived Sunday afternoon, had a nice dinner at the hotel, and a wonderful time in bed in the evening. Monday morning June went off to her meeting and Will hired a guy to show him around L.A. He had a nice time. It was not a city that he knew well. He got a sense of it and then was dropped off at a car rental place. No sightseeing in L.A. without a car.

He got back to the hotel late in the afternoon, and met June for a snack at the bar. She was sitting at a small table with the blond guy. She introduced him as Brad Deal. He was from the area and had been at her meeting. The two men shook, and Brad excused himself, saying that he had to see to some matters left over from the meeting.

Will asked, "Have you met that guy before?"

"No. Only at today's meeting. He works for Dewald." That was a local company that was the reason for her trip. Her boss had made an arrangement with Dewald last year for mutual referrals. June had finalized that, and it had worked out. Now she needed to reup with Dewald.

June and Will had a drink, and went up to their room, where they managed to get each other off. A before dinner romp. They showered, and went to the hotel restaurant, which had an adjacent dance venue.

After they ate, they went dancing. Except, after the first three dances, they sat down and Brad appeared, asked June to dance and whisked her away.

The two of them started out okay, but they kept dancing. There was a DJ, and he took no breaks. Neither did Brad and June. Their routine got more and more lewd. They'd been at it for thirty minutes when Will took out his phone and started capturing the scene on video. He wondered what the fuck June was doing. She had to know that he'd be sensitive to such goings on.

June had her legs wrapped around Brad's hips and the two were simulating (?) sex when Will shut down his phone and cashed out the tab. It was ten pm. He went upstairs and packed his stuff. A duffel and a day pack. He dressed for travel.

The rented Civic was in the hotel garage. He stowed his gear, got in and drove east. He drove all night, with the aid of some coffee he bought on the way. He ended up seeing the sunrise in Albuquerque. He rested, had coffee, and headed east again. He drove along at a sedate pace, taking no chances, and thinking through the problems with his marriage. He felt like June was reprising the Milan episode. But this time she couldn't run after him. He wondered if she'd gone all the way with Brad. And he found that he didn't give a shit. That realization startled him, and made him believe that the marriage was kaput. He assumed that she had lied when she said she only knew Brad from the meeting. This was her second trip to L.A.

Will ended up near Oklahoma City, where he pulled off, parked in a remote spot in a Walmart and slept. Four hours later he woke up. He stretched, jogged around, and went into the Walmart. There, he bought a towel, washed up in the men's room, and got a pastry and enough coffee to fill a thermos. He drove on. He had not turned on his phone the entire way.

He texted his daughters that he was okay, and would be home at some point. He attached some stills from the dancing video, so they would know why he was doing a bunk. Then he shut the phone down again.

He drove on at the same sedate pace, still mulling his options. He stopped several times, but only to eat and drink. And piss. He pulled off and parked just south of Roanoke, Virginia. He slept for another four hours, found a Walmart and did his thing there. Then he drove sedately up Rt. 81, and east on Rt. 66. He got home in the late afternoon.

Clara's car was in the driveway. Will went inside his house. Clara was watching TV. She looked up at him and shouted, "He's home!"

The twins came running down the stairs, and into his arms. He spent a while hugging them. He let go and stepped back to see them crying.

"Oh, Dad! Oh, Dad!"

He said, "It's me, all right." Laughing. He hugged his mom.

When he looked up, there was June, in her gardening clothes. She seemed to have come inside when she heard the commotion.

The two of them stared at each other for a long time, saying nothing. Clara and the girls also fell silent. Each of them had seen the pictures, and spoken to June. So, they knew what was up.

June said, "I apologize."

Will said, "For what, exactly?"

"The dancing. Disrespect. There was nothing else. I've been home since the next day."

Will nodded. But he didn't speak.

Clara said, "I picked her up at the airport, Will. She got a morning flight to Dulles."

Will said, "Thanks, Mom, for teen sitting. And I guess you stayed. Why?"

"To...well...to see if I could help in any way."

Will said, "We can talk later. I need a shower." He went off upstairs.

Clara turned to the twins and said, "Maybe take a walk." They took the hint.

Will was clean and shaved when he came back down the stairs. June was in the kitchen, simply sitting at the table. She was jittery. She heard Will come down, and then Clara go up. Will sat down opposite her.

She said, "I've been thinking about it, and I can't say what happened."

Will asked, "How did the evening end? For you, I mean."

"The front man tapped me on the shoulder during a lull. He asked me if I'd be needing the table, now that my escort cashed out. I looked over. You weren't there."

"And? Now there was an open lane to the jerk's bed."

"I asked how long you'd been gone. He said it had been an hour, maybe more. I panicked. I started up to our room."

"What about the jerk?"

"He followed me. When I got there, he was right behind me. I opened the door, and I saw that your bags were gone. I went to look in the bathroom. All your stuff was gone."

"And the guy?"

"He was right there. He told me that we might as well use the chance. He....he embraced me."

"What exactly does that mean? I mean, on the dance floor, he did more than embrace you. I warn you, June. Do not lie."

June hesitated. She said, "I was hot for the guy, Will. He kissed me and I kissed him back. But when he started to pull my panties down, I woke up. I shoved him away. Told him to leave, opened the door. He left."

"And you had a lonely night?"

"Well, I tried to call you. Then I went down to the front desk and asked about the room. They said it was paid through the night, no more. The guy said that you had walked out with your bags. I went to check on the rental. Gone. You with it."

"You know, June, I wondered as I drove whether you fucked the guy. And, I came to the conclusion that it made no difference. That's what I still think. Because when you were doing it, you knew that it would likely break us up."

"I don't want us to break up. I wasn't thinking. I was....so amped up by him. Sorry. But I didn't think anything through."

"There are various levels of thought. At some level, you wanted to mess with me, June. You need to consider that. Before our trip, we were flat. In the doldrums. You may want more than I can.....provide."

"No!. But maybe more than we had."

"Hmm. Well, for now, we....I need some distance. I'm gonna sleep in the guest house."